


Gravity

by dantes_wombat



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-23
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-15 05:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15406497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dantes_wombat/pseuds/dantes_wombat
Summary: Just a quiet night of campfire conversation and coming to terms with the infinite blackness above you.





	Gravity

The moon hung pale over their scattered camp, and Tara couldn’t help feeling watched by it, a big, glassy eye observing and pondering whether their position was worth being kept a secret, or if it wouldn’t be more entertaining to just betray them to the darkspawn. 

She had always wondered, back in the deep, what it would look like. The dwarves had many stories telling of the white orb, its mystic powers, the magical impossibility of a giant rock suspended in the sky, so far away from its earthly brothers. These were just children’s stories, of course; it was hard to stay impressed by something you would likely never see with your own eyes. Tara had been surprised by the tall surface dwellers entering the city one day, a heavy and strangely glittering load in tow; a meteor, they had called it, a piece of the moon that had come loose and crossed the unimaginable gap between the worlds. Fit for a dwarven princess, they had said, honestly, though in order to make a fortune, no doubt. Still, she remained skeptical. Often she had thought them stupid, the merchants who paid said fortune just to acquire a piece of rock that might or might not have fallen from the sky. Now, finally being face to face with the moon, she could nearly understand it. 

Silently, still unable to sleep peacefully with the sky opening up like a huge, hungry mouth above her, Tara let her eyes drift over her sleeping companions’ tents. They had tried to explain it to her, of course, in their own strange terms: the principle of gravity, why she didn’t need to be afraid that the earth would just let her go, to drift into the abyss helplessly, now that she had left the protective blanket of the stone. The days weren’t so bad, really; the blue dome of the sky or the deep-hanging clouds didn’t feel too different from a stony ceiling high above. But the darkness of night made her shiver, with the moon’s ghoulish glare contrasting with an impenetrable blackness that seemed to suck her in whenever she dared to look at it for too long. 

Wynne, perceptive as she was, had been the first to notice her discomfort. “It is only natural to be confused by it,” she had assured her, and dove headfirst into a long excursion about observatories, magnetic powers, celestial bodies, their circular movements through space and countless other things that still made Tara’s head ring. 

“But why would you spend so much time studying planets that you can never touch?” she had asked, confused; under the stone, everything was visible, graspable – darkness and mystery only meant darkspawn and certain death, nothing you would want think to about outside of a well-planned raid. “Oh, but they are able to give us so many answers-“ Wynne had gone on, happily ranting about a mage’s connection to the universe and the magical powers flowing between the stars until Zevran, fortunately, decided to come to her aid. 

“I would certainly know a better way of spending my time among the mages,” – the flirtatious undertone just never went away – “if they are all as insanely attractive and well-endowed as you are, that is…” A suggestive wink and Wynne had, predictably, switched topic to general politeness and rules of social behaviour. He was an angel, really. 

“’tis a bit like a lovers’ embrace, I suppose,” Morrigan had said, in that tone clearly implying how much she could not be bothered with lovers’ embraces, “they pull at each other, ceaselessly, so that none of them can ever leave the other and vanish into space.” 

“So they hold each other stable, protect each other?” Tara had inquired, smiling; this explanation she could work with. “I didn’t expect you to be such a poet, or worse, a romantic,” she had kidded, promptly causing Morrigan to get up in a huff and retreat back into her makeshift hut. A bout of pearly laughter had sounded behind her to reveal that Leliana had been listening in; the night had ended well with a song about star-crossed lovers and unchangeable destinies. 

Tara was shaken out of her thoughts when Sam gave a deep, warning growl next to her. She tensed. Stupid, really, to sit with her back to the forest; even with a mabari at her side she would not be a match for a bunch of darkspawn ambushing from behind. 

“Why’d you have to ruin the surprise, dammit,” hissed a familiar voice behind her, and she relaxed, grinning when a pair of arms encircled her. “Oh, poor Alistair, is the mean dog mocking you again?” There was no answer, but she could feel the heat on his face when Alistair sat down behind her, pressing a light kiss to her cheek. An easily embarrassed man, not a thing she was used to – and so much more fun than the blundering dwarven men, too.

“What’re you doing out here, all alone?” he asked softly, close to her ear as if he didn’t want to disturb her private musings more than he already had. 

“I’m not alone,” she reminded him, patting the dog’s giant head. Alistair ran his hands down her arms, a gesture he often used to determine whether she was cold, which she always was, in his opinion. “We could go back to the fire, if you want?” he suggested and, when she didn’t react, carefully moved her so they were facing each other. Soon, Tara was encased in a warm embrace and a woolly coat, just far enough from his face so she was still able to read his expression – worried, of course, but also content and strangely earnest. Human men and all their feelings, really; but then, maybe she had just managed to find a special one. She fought the sudden urge to touch her forehead to his and simply close her eyes. _Gravity_ , she thought.

“It’s the moon, isn’t it?” Alistair asked. “I thought it might get better, now that we’re, you know, sleeping in a tent, together…” A hint of a blush, again, but also determination. 

Tara just thought that he looked terribly endearing. “You mean to say that you’re my protector, now? I bet you’ve had many encounters with the moon, growing up among wild dogs and all,” she said, wishing to see the well-known mischief come back to his eyes; it was there immedately. Not as a shield this time, not to hide anything; just to entertain her.

“Oh we faced it bravely- it was glorious, running through the woods, howling at the moon – we really intimidated it, you know?” Grinning, he bent his head back to imitate a howling wolf, urging her to join in. Moments later, the whole camp was rudely pulled out of sleep when Sam started yelping loudly, outraged at the strange noises his dwarf and her human were making; Morrigan’s curses and Wynne’s demands for peace and quiet remained unheard until Tara’s and Alistair’s laughter had subsided. 

The moon didn’t seem that interested in interrupting the antics of little beings like them, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This one's an oldie, written in 2009 or 10 but never posted - better late than never, though!


End file.
